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She had to push those ugly and hurtful images from her mind. Her dad had told Tristan she couldn’t love him any longer and wasn’t returning. Still, he could’ve waited a little longer than four months before falling in love and planning to marry someone else, especially if he’d loved Jennifer as desperately as she’d always loved him.
Jennifer used his bathroom and took a long inhale of his delicious Dr. Vranjes Firenze cologne bottle. Mint, cedar, maybe something floral … It smelled incredible, but mixed with Tristan’s chemistry, it was even more irresistible.
Everything was in its place in his rooms. Not a dirty sock on the floor, a water bottle sitting on a side table, or even a suit coat hung over a chair. His suite was too clean. Was that due to the maids, or had Tristan changed that much in the past eight months? He’d never been dirty, but fastidiously clean wasn’t him either. Maybe he was so busy he rarely spent time here. She inhaled again. The scent of him was everywhere, shooting down that theory.
She walked to the patio doors and pushed them open. Standing on his patio, she looked at the view of the majestic mountains and greenery. The wedding was on the other side of the castle. If she snuck across the hall and through somebody else’s suite, could she see him?
She could swear she’d been waiting for hours. It would be hard for the crown prince to sneak away from the wedding, but the way he’d leaned down and almost kissed her outside the bathroom, and that sincere and smoldering look in his blue eyes, made her assume he would come as soon as the dinner was over.
She needed to tell him her parents were in mortal danger and she had information he must hear before they concocted the rescue plan of the century. A rescue plan with no way of knowing where her parents were, what William would demand when he contacted her, and no ability to call in the troops to help.
Creeping back through his suite and to the door, she listened but heard no one. She hurried out and straight across the wide hallway, twisting the doorknob of the suite opposite Tristan’s as she looked around. No one. She hoped the guards weren’t looking at this particular hall camera. With everybody at the wedding, the guards were probably concentrated on the camera angles closer to the reception.
The door swung open, and she hurried inside. The suite looked unoccupied. That was good. She rushed to the balcony door, opened it, and was instantly inundated with music and the joyful sounds of a party. Inching to the edge of the balcony, she glanced over. Couples danced around, and the bride and groom were easy to pick out. Her gaze swept over the dancers, men in suits and women in gorgeous dresses. She wished she was amongst them and in Tristan’s arms. How would it be to simply enjoy carefree dancing without the stress of losing both of her parents hanging over her head and the hurt of her and Tristan’s love being shattered, maybe irrevocably?
Jennifer’s gaze zeroed in on him. A charming smile decorated his face as he interacted with the crowd surrounding him. A crowd of beautiful women. A blonde had her hand threaded through his arm, leaning against his side. A brunette and a redhead eased close, obviously teasing and flirting with him as the rest of the women impatiently waited their turn to seduce the handsome crown prince.
Hot jealousy flared in her gut. She’d confided in him, taken a huge risk opening up, impatiently waited for him, and what was he doing? Flirting with a gaggle of single women. No desire to rush to her. No urgency to help her and her parents.
Jennifer clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from yelling at him. She’d seen so many pictures of him online with other women, and she’d seen the shocking video of him kissing his fiancée Macey, but seeing him flirt and be surrounded by gorgeous women in person was even more awful. She couldn’t watch any longer.
Jennifer hurried back into the unoccupied suite, closing the balcony door and walking through the room. Should she go back to Tristan’s suite and wait for him like some overeager, needy former girlfriend? This entire mess was bigger than her desires for Tristan to still love and need her, but she was angry, embarrassed, and sickeningly jealous. For the past few hours, she’d let herself forget that the man she loved had fallen in love with another woman and then when Macey chose his twin brother, Tristan had turned into the player of the century. Even Malik had settled down to one woman and she’d seen Chad with a date on his arm.
The crown prince apparently had to make up for their slack.
Walking out into the hallway, she looked around. She’d been so certain Tristan was the answer, that he would help her rescue her parents and then they could be reunited. But no … he was flirting away, having a great time. Probably barely remembered she was waiting in his suite. How many women did he ask to wait in his suite? Her neck prickled with heat and her stomach turned over.
“’I’ll slip away as soon as I can’,” she muttered. “’I don’t want to miss out on you.’”
His words had impacted her deeply. She’d trusted him with her secrets. Was the man she loved truly a philanderer now like she’d thrown at him early today? He’d claimed the media blew things out of proportion, but no media had shown her that clear picture of him happily flirting, looking confident, delighted with the female attention, and in his element.
Her shoulders rounded. She should go to her parents’ cottage and await another message from William. She’d have to pray she could somehow overtake William by herself. Could she surprise him with her knives and bear spray? If only she could find a stun gun. She didn’t want to kill anybody, and a stun gun seemed a lot easier method to hit and incapacitate a target. William wouldn’t expect her to be armed or to fight. The element of surprise was the only real weapon she’d have.
Jennifer trudged down the hallway toward the back stairs. She’d take the castle entrance she came in with Captain Levi earlier and slip quietly through the wedding party. Tristan wouldn’t even notice her, surrounded as he was.
Hopefully one of the shuttles was running to take people back to Greenville.
Oh, shoot. Her hat and sunglasses.
Turning, she headed for Tristan’s suite when footsteps came from the main staircase. Determined footsteps.
She upped her pace, hoping to slide into Tristan’s suite and hide until whoever it was went away. Then she’d have to make her escape. Disappointment at not being able to rely on Tristan weighed heavily on her chest. He used to be her hero, her everything, her Big Bad Wolf crown prince. Now he was a ladies’ man. Ugh!
She reached his door and grasped the doorknob.
What if it was Tristan finally coming for her? Could he have rushed the stairs that quickly? Her heart gave a traitorous leap at the thought.
“Stop right there, miss,” a man said from down the hall.
Not Tristan. Disappointment stung like a wasp.
Turning, she swallowed hard as she looked between two royal guards, neither of which seemed happy to see her. She didn’t recognize either of them.
“Pardon me.” She drew herself up and made her voice haughty. “I’ve been asked by Prince Tristan to wait for him in his suite. I don’t believe you’ll want to go against his instructions.”
“We’ve been watching you on the camera,” the same man said as they both advanced. They didn’t have weapons pointed at her. Yet. “You snuck out of Prince Tristan’s suite to the unoccupied suite across the hall. We unfortunately missed seeing you sneak up here a couple hours ago. Joseph will stand guard over you in the hallway while I search the prince’s suite for anything amiss.”
“I am Jennifer Shule, Prime Minister Henry Shule’s daughter,” she threw at him. So much for staying incognito.
